August 10, 2012

Art Journal Every Day: Why Stephanie Art Journals

If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, there is a short introduction here. All of the previous posts can be found archived here. There is a flickr group for sharing right here. Remember, it's just ten minutes of nourishing your creative self every day! No need to finish anything or even like it. If you've done some art journaling this week and you've blogged about it, or put it on flickr, please leave a link in the linky list at the end of this post. Thanks!

You may recall that I recently asked Art Journal Every Day participants to share the story of why they art journal. Today, Stephanie Schütze from Kanton St. Gallen in Switzerland is going to share her story!

Q: How long have you been art journaling?

A: I started art journaling in summer 2011 as addition to my scrapbooking projects. But before then I had always written and sketched regularly in my diary.

Q: Why did you start art journaling?

A: One night I sat by my computer and surfed the web without a concrete goal, just to find inspiration. It happened then that I came across an art journaling page. This page impressed me and I continued to google for key words “art journaling” and filtered by pictures. The result was full of beautiful pictures. The colors and the ideas exploded literally in front of my eyes and I was hooked to art journaling. So I started as a scrapbooker who found totally different pages in her through the art journaling. I noticed that I missed something in scrapbooking: more of myself and more creativity.

Q: Why do you continue to art journal?

It is a way to express my thoughts and feelings in pictures, shapes and colors. A kind of illustrated diary in which I can capture important events, thoughts, dreams and wishes. It lets me experiment with materials and colors. It also lets me try different techniques. The difference between scrapbooking and art journaling is that in art journaling it does not need to be “perfect” outcome and it doesn’t require a goal or result. I can always leave a creative discharge and I can reinvent myself. This created a new freedom, which I endlessly enjoy and that is why I continue to art journal.

I love the thought that I can later on go through my books and remember and show them to my kids and grandkids. My little world gets archived, it is a good feeling to continue.

Q: How often do you art journal?

A: Not every day but minimum once a week. It doesn’t depend on my desire or my will but it is simply a time constrain. It can happen that I do 5-6 pages in one setting when I have the time. I always have something to say and I always have the desire to be creative

Q: How has your art journaling affected other craft/art that you do?

A: Art journaling and changed my scrapbooking style dramatically. Sometimes one can not distinguish between my art journals and my scrapbooking. I mix everything just as it come into my head. Currently I do not use any pattern paper for scraping but I use create my own backgrounds.

Q: Were there classes or books or YouTube videos that really helped you in your art journal journey?

A: Many art journal pages in the web and a video by willowing have influenced me. They helped me to define what art journaling is and I could understand what art journaling meant for other people. But at the end I follow my own art. For example, I use photos in my pages because they bring more meaning into the page.

Q: What advice would you give to someone who wants to start an art journal?

A: Do what you want, do it more and often and then see the wonderful results. Let yourself inspire by others but stay true to yourself and don’t try to copy.

Here is the linky list for this week:

About Stephanie:

Stephanie Schütze is a mixed media artist, scrapbooker, art journaler with a passion for drawing who lives with her 2 sweet daughters and her husband in Switzerland.

She is a psychologist and worked as a Usability Consultant. Now she has decided to take a break from work to care for her two children.

She designed for the german scapbooking magazine scrap-art-zine and gave Mixed Media und Scrapbooking Workshops. She may be reached by email at scrapmanufaktur@gmail.com. To see more of Stephanie’s work, please visit her blog at http://scrapmanufaktur.blogspot.com.

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Art Journal Every Day: Why Stephanie Art Journals

If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, there is a short introduction here. All of the previous posts can be found archived here. There is a flickr group for sharing right here. Remember, it's just ten minutes of nourishing your creative self every day! No need to finish anything or even like it. If you've done some art journaling this week and you've blogged about it, or put it on flickr, please leave a link in the linky list at the end of this post. Thanks!

You may recall that I recently asked Art Journal Every Day participants to share the story of why they art journal. Today, Stephanie Schütze from Kanton St. Gallen in Switzerland is going to share her story!

Q: How long have you been art journaling?

A: I started art journaling in summer 2011 as addition to my scrapbooking projects. But before then I had always written and sketched regularly in my diary.

Q: Why did you start art journaling?

A: One night I sat by my computer and surfed the web without a concrete goal, just to find inspiration. It happened then that I came across an art journaling page. This page impressed me and I continued to google for key words “art journaling” and filtered by pictures. The result was full of beautiful pictures. The colors and the ideas exploded literally in front of my eyes and I was hooked to art journaling. So I started as a scrapbooker who found totally different pages in her through the art journaling. I noticed that I missed something in scrapbooking: more of myself and more creativity.

Q: Why do you continue to art journal?

It is a way to express my thoughts and feelings in pictures, shapes and colors. A kind of illustrated diary in which I can capture important events, thoughts, dreams and wishes. It lets me experiment with materials and colors. It also lets me try different techniques. The difference between scrapbooking and art journaling is that in art journaling it does not need to be “perfect” outcome and it doesn’t require a goal or result. I can always leave a creative discharge and I can reinvent myself. This created a new freedom, which I endlessly enjoy and that is why I continue to art journal.

I love the thought that I can later on go through my books and remember and show them to my kids and grandkids. My little world gets archived, it is a good feeling to continue.

Q: How often do you art journal?

A: Not every day but minimum once a week. It doesn’t depend on my desire or my will but it is simply a time constrain. It can happen that I do 5-6 pages in one setting when I have the time. I always have something to say and I always have the desire to be creative

Q: How has your art journaling affected other craft/art that you do?

A: Art journaling and changed my scrapbooking style dramatically. Sometimes one can not distinguish between my art journals and my scrapbooking. I mix everything just as it come into my head. Currently I do not use any pattern paper for scraping but I use create my own backgrounds.

Q: Were there classes or books or YouTube videos that really helped you in your art journal journey?

A: Many art journal pages in the web and a video by willowing have influenced me. They helped me to define what art journaling is and I could understand what art journaling meant for other people. But at the end I follow my own art. For example, I use photos in my pages because they bring more meaning into the page.

Q: What advice would you give to someone who wants to start an art journal?

A: Do what you want, do it more and often and then see the wonderful results. Let yourself inspire by others but stay true to yourself and don’t try to copy.

Here is the linky list for this week:

About Stephanie:

Stephanie Schütze is a mixed media artist, scrapbooker, art journaler with a passion for drawing who lives with her 2 sweet daughters and her husband in Switzerland.

She is a psychologist and worked as a Usability Consultant. Now she has decided to take a break from work to care for her two children.

She designed for the german scapbooking magazine scrap-art-zine and gave Mixed Media und Scrapbooking Workshops. She may be reached by email at scrapmanufaktur@gmail.com. To see more of Stephanie’s work, please visit her blog at http://scrapmanufaktur.blogspot.com.